the candidates are the republican nominee, president george bush, the independent, ross perot, and governor bill clinton, the democratic nominee. my name is carole simpson and i will be the moderator for tonight's 90 minutes' debate coming to you from the campus of the university of richmond in virginia. >> tonight's program is unlike any other presidential debate in history -- we're making history now and it's pretty exciting. an independent polling firm has selected an audience of 209 uncommitted voters from this area. the candidates will be asked questions by these voters on a topic of their choosing -- anything they want to ask about. my job as moderator is to, you know, take care of the questioning, ask questions myself if i think there needs to be continuity and balance, and sometimes i might ask the candidates to respond to what another candidate may have said. now the format has been agreed to by representatives of both the republican and democratic campaigns. and there is no subject matter that is restricted -- anything goes, we can ask anything. after the debate, the candidates wi